MELISSA GILLILAND

The Life of Missy

John Cuckler and Richard Crouse of Steel City Precision are no strangers in the long range community. They both have been running matches for quite a few years now. I have shot several of their matches and they never disappoint.This year was no different. A cool aspect to their match is that they donate proceeds …

I have had a few people ask me with puzzling looks “You shoot a Bushnell optic“? and I always respond “Heck yeah I shoot a Bushnell“! If you are not familiar with the quality and ruggedness of this scope, let me give you one of the many reasons why I choose Bushnell: A few weekends …

Take the guys of CORE Shooting Solutions (Josh Mann, Mike Mangum, John Watts and Bryan Morgan) and add the infamous George Gardner and you got one hell of a PRS match!! With these guys at the helm, this was one tough/challenging match. CORE Shooting Solutions is known for their long range shooting and the many competitions …

So let’s rewind to July 2016. My Husbands birthday was quickly approaching and I am the type of person that loves giving “different” kind of gifts. After hearing a few friends of ours talk about Prairie Dog Hunts, I thought to myself “Now this could be epic”. I researched out places for this epic adventure …

Mark this as one of my favorite and “have to go to every year” match! This destination hot spot is nothing short of amazing. I flew into Sioux Falls late on Thursday evening. After awaking the next morning, I met up with Tom Fuller and we headed over to our fellow GAP Teammates house, Jeff …

John Cuckler and Richard Crouse of Steel City Precision are no strangers in the long range community. They both have been running matches for quite a few years now. I have shot several of their matches and they never disappoint.This year was no different. A cool aspect to their match is that they donate proceeds to a sniper association. This year, proceeds went to the Scout Sniper Association. At the time of this article, there was still a raffle raising money for SSA. To date, right at $16,000 has been raised. John Cuckler, Richard Crouse, Austin Cook and Patrick Powell did a tremendous job this year and I really want to give them a HUGE thanks for all they do in our sport. This year their match was held at King B Farms. This place was so beautiful it is hard put it into words. Rolling hills, barricades and steel targets…..doesn’t get any better than that!

My husband Jim Gilliland was scheduled to shoot this match, but got extremely sick the week of with a horrible chest/head cold. It wasn’t the flu thank goodness! But with the weather calling for 100% chance of rain on Saturday and another 60-80% on Sunday, Jim decided it wasn’t in his best interest to go. But I still attended.

My 40 hour week job is running Armageddon Gear. Tom Fuller and I headed out Friday morning with the Meatwagon in tow. For those of you not familiar with the Meatwagon, it is a 1967 Jeep Kaiser Ambulance. Pretty darn cool too! A few years ago, Mad Matz Unique Jeepz restored the engine and gave this old thing a great tune up and little face lift. The back end of the wagon is now designed to hold alot of Armageddon Gear as well as a cooler for a frosty cold beer for after the match. So with the Meatwagon in tow, we headed to Ardmore Tennessee. I won’t go into details about a tire blowing out on the Interstate near Cullman, but that was definitely a scary adventure within itself! After arriving at our destination several hours later, we were match ready along with our shooting GAP Teammate Jeff Badley.

Saturday morning started early at 7:00 am with the safety brief and rain on the horizon. Squad 6 started on the backside of the property so we all had to ride in the back of a Humvee to get there. Our first stage was the Open Field Assault. You had to engage the first rifle target from the standing un-supported position and shoot your steel target at 140 yrds with a max of 3 impacts, once that happened you had to sprint to your next position and shoot another target at 235 yrds in the kneeling un-supported position with 3 impacts. You then sprinted to your next position and shot the target at 350 yards in modified prone position with 3 impacts. Once that was completed, you made your way to the pistol area and engaged 3 targets with 2 impacts each. I just kept thinking to myself, this is not how I wanted to start my first match of the year in these funky positions and then, the rain started. I went ahead and shot this stage to end up dropping one target. Huh, not too bad.

The rain….didn’t stop. It didn’t stop at all and continued throughout the day. Heavier at times, and letting up just a little at other times, but never just stopping. I had a really great squad that included two of my teammates from GA Precision, Tom Fuller and Jeff Badley. I think when you are in a competition, not only is the sport itself fun but the people you surround yourself with helps make a match even better. And if you ever get to squad with Keith Henline, Tom Cuthbert, Brent Keith and some of those guys, you are definitely in for a treat all weekend long!

By mid day Saturday, I was hearing that some guys were having malfunctions and failures with their rifle. I am so proud to be shooting and representing GA Precision. Not once did I have any problems with my rifle, the Blackwidow. My rifle build consists of custom built GA Precision 6mmCreedmoor Templar V2 action in a Manners Composite Stock, 26″ Bartlein Barrel, APA Little Bastard Brake, Timney Trigger, and Bushnell Elite Tactical XRS 4.5-30 optic. I reload my ammunition which consists of Federal Premium 210 Primers, Berger 105gr Hybrid bullets, and Alliant Reloder 16 powder. I hand load these on RCBS equipment which consists of a Rockchucker, Universal Case Prep Center, Tumbler, ChargeMaster and Summit press. My rifle and ammo set up is rock solid and I have so much confidence in my gear. During the day, it was nice to hear another competitor say “Unless you were running a Bushnell, you couldn’t see targets”. I have been preaching this for a couple years now, Bushnell really makes top quality scopes. This isn’t the first time I have shot in downpour rain. The rain beads right off your optic. And what fog? Unless you accidentally breathed on the lense of your scope (don’t ask how I know this), there was no fogging up going on.

We finally made it to an area where we had a little bit of cover. By the time we made to this spot which was early afternoon, my shoes were drenched with water and mud. Having wet feet, running through stages and being cold was a little bit miserable. But, I kept going. One of my favorite stages for Saturday was the Larue Rapid Bolt Hustle. There were two arrays of Larue targets. Five targets were at 586 yards and another five were at 744 yards. The shooter stages up to three magazines loaded with a MAX of 5 rounds. You staged these magazines weak side of your rifle. You started standing up with your rifle on the ground. On command, you went prone and retrieved 1 magazine, loaded rifle and engaged the closest Larue targets from left to right with 1 impact each. If at anytime you missed a target, you had to exchange magazines and re-engage the previously missed target. Once you cleaned the closest targets, you had to engage the far array in the same manner. You had 1 minute 30 seconds with a Max round count of 15. On the command, I jumped down in prone. It was raining and I could see the slanting rain at my target which gave me an idea for wind hold. I held .5 mil from center of the 1st target, Impact! I continued this all the way to the 5th target…I quickly dialed my DOPE for the 744 yard array of targets. This time I held a little more for wind. IMPACT! I kept this hold all the way through the 5th target….Perfect Clean! Guys on my squad hollered and it felt good to hammer those targets!

My squad finished up with a more few stages which ended our Saturday. It was time for a great dinner, whiskey tasting then a nice HOT shower and comfy bed!!! Corner Pit BBQ cooked a delicious meal. Tennessee South Distillery was there with a whiskey tasting and vodka tasting. The owner of the property Keith B., had an absolute beautiful home that he shared with all the competitors. He has a gorgeous outdoor fireplace that alot of us happily stood around and even threw our shoes up by it to try and dry them out. After a full belly, a warm fire and a warm drink, I headed back to my hotel to get my gear dried out for the next day. Hoppe’s 9 to the rescue! I immediately dried my rifle off, took the bolt out and dried out the action and applied Hoppe’s 9 Gun Medic to my bolt. After giving my rifle a nice clean rub down, it was on to my Glock 17. I took that sucker apart, dried it out and re-oiled it for the next day.

Sunday morning arrived pretty fast after I closed my eyes. My squad had 6 stages to shoot to complete the match. One favorite stage was the Dump Truck stage. Yes it was still raining a little and fog had moved in. Because it was our next to last stage of the competition, you could imagine how many people had already ran this stage. Your feet sunk in the mud and the back of the dump truck had at least an inch of mud in it. You started at the bottom of the ladder with all your gear on you. Because of the rain, mud and slipperiness (I just made that word up I think), you had to put your rifle in the dump truck and retrieve it once both feet was in the bed of the truck. You had to build a position and engage the 5 targets from largest to smallest (20″, 18″, 16″, 14″ and 12″) on the 882 yard TYL rack in two evolutions. You had to hit the target to move on. You had 2 minutes to complete the stage. Once I got in the back of the dump truck I made my way to the front. I put my Armageddon Gear wax canvas gamechanger on the front and placed my rifle on it. Rifle was steady. Then I climbed up on the top ledge and shimmied myself into a stable position by placing my backpack under the shoulder stock of my rifle. I was rock solid. I shot all five of the targets by watching my impacts and making the wind corrections. I then started over with the first target to complete my second evolution. At this point, the wind couldn’t decide if it wanted to gust, to stop completely and then gust again. My impacts were all around the target. I didn’t score high on this stage, but it was definitely one of the most fun stages.

Sunday ended with all the competitors gathering back at the owners home around the big outdoor fireplace for the awards ceremony. Big thanks to all the RO’s who selflessly gave their time to be in the weather over the weekend. There were 128 competitors who signed up for this match. Congratulations to Matt B for Winning the match and to Jason Greene 2nd and Matt Rooks 3rd. Congrats to my GAP teammates Gerald Delk who came in 4th with Jeff Badley 6th and Tom Fuller 13th. I had 5 stages that I struggled with due to weather and that landed me in 41st. Never…Give….Up. Thank you to my wonderful sponsors for providing me with gear that can withstand downpours, mud, cold and not so favorable conditions. G.A. Precision, Bushnell, Hoppe’s 9, Armageddon Gear, RCBS, Federal Premium, Berger Bullets, and XGO.

I have had a few people ask me with puzzling looks “You shoot a Bushnell optic“? and I always respond “Heck yeah I shoot a Bushnell“! If you are not familiar with the quality and ruggedness of this scope, let me give you one of the many reasons why I choose Bushnell:

A few weekends ago, I shot the CORE Shooting Solutions Long Range Challenge in Baker FL. The day started off cool with 62 degrees and cloudy skies. The temps stayed steady all day and it was quite pleasant weather. With only 8 stages in the match, you had to stay on top of your game. Mike, Josh and gang picked out the “favorite” stages. I shot really well on most.

Fast forward to the last stage of the day. It was about 2:30 p.m. and the cold front had just came through. The temperature had dropped and it was misting rain. The last stage for me happened to be the tower stage at the lower end of the range. This stage was shot prone. You had 6 steel targets with various distances and sizes. Distances: Prairie Dog1 on a pole: 181 yrds, Prairie Dog2 on a pole: 268 yrds, Pig1: 338 yrds, Pig2: 453 yrds, Coyote 620 yrds, and Kangaroo 731 yrds. Engage each steel target with 1 round only closest to furthest, then start the same sequence again. 12 rounds max. I was one of the first four shooters to go up on deck and luck had it that I shot first. It started sprinkling rain. I shot Prairie Dog 1 “Impact”, Prairie Dog 2 “Impact”. Then it started to rain hard. I shot Pig1 “Impact”. The rain beat down harder and I could make out the Pig2 target. I increased my magnification on the Bushnell XRS to try to get my target in view…Ha, there it was. I shot at the pig target….Ting! “Impact”. At this point, it was raining so hard you could barely see the Coyote Target at 620 yrds. I came down on magnification to find the pig targets, then increased again and caught a faint glimpse of the coyote target. It was raining so hard I thought the RO would stop the stage until the rain stopped, but noooooo. I pulled the trigger and you could hear a “ting”. The RO even said, “I don’t know how you saw that but you hit it“! I responded with “It’s all in my Bushnell Baby”!! I barely could make out the Kangaroo target…”Impact”. Now I had to start over again. I impacted Prairie Dog 1 and 2, Impacted Pig 1 and 2 (barely being able to see them through the hard rain). The Coyote target was next at 620yds and I knew I was getting close on running out of time (2 minute par time). I couldn’t see it at all. No faint glimpse of a target, nothing but hard hard rain. I shot at the pig target again just to get a round down so I could move on to the Kangaroo. The Kangaroo target was a little bit bigger so I barely could see him and pulled the trigger…..Ting! “Impact”. 11 hits out of 12, not bad at all for barely being able to see your target in hard Florida rain! I was soaked from head to toe, cold and ready to change into some warmer clothes.

I definitely owe these hits not only to my badass GA Precision rifle and Federal/Berger reloaded ammo, but if it wasn’t for the quality piece of glass made by Bushnell, there is just no way I would have had that many hits in the pouring down rain. The objective and ocular lenses in the Bushnell Tactical Elite XRS have a water-repellent coating called Rainguard HD. For stages like this one, you are extremely grateful for a quality scope! Here are some specifics of the XRS 4.5×30:

Power/Obj. lens: 4.5-30x50m

Reticle: G2

Lens coating: Fully multi coated and extra wide band coating

Tube diameter: 34mm

Weight: 37oz/1049gr

Length: 14in/356mm

Focal plane: First

Not only does Bushnell manufacture some great optics, they have alot of other offerings as well. Check out their website and see what they can do for you at www.bushnell.com

Take the guys of CORE Shooting Solutions (Josh Mann, Mike Mangum, John Watts and Bryan Morgan) and add the infamous George Gardner and you got one hell of a PRS match!! With these guys at the helm, this was one tough/challenging match. CORE Shooting Solutions is known for their long range shooting and the many competitions that they have at their facilities. Located just 45 minutes North of Crestview Florida, this range is an adult playground with firearms. When my Husband and I did a TV show called Trigger Time TV, we had many episodes filmed here. I’m not just saying this is a great range, I’m telling you…THIS is a Great Range!

I have been shooting down at CORE since 2013 and I have always considered this range to be my “home” range. I was super excited to shoot this match because not only was the Armageddon Gear “Meat Wagon” in tow but we also brought the Armageddon Gear “Murder Machine” which was used on a stage as a prop. Tom Fuller, hubby Jim Gilliland and myself drove down early Friday morning. Once arrived, the Murder Machine took to its place on its stage and the Meat Wagon was parked and organized inside for sales. That evening, we got checked into our hotel then off to “Bamboo” Sushi restaurant to meet 30 other competitors for dinner. If you are ever in Crestview Florida, Bamboo Sushi restaurant is a must stop!!

Up at the crack of dawn with 2 coffee’s down, I was ready for day One. After arriving at the range and heading off to our 1st stage of the day, I was excited to see everyone who was shooting on my squad 9. I don’t think I have laughed as hard as I did with this squad ever. All these guys were great to be around all weekend long. Though you are all competing against one another, everyone helped each other. This is probably one of the biggest things I love about this sport is the camaraderie among everyone. Huge Thanks to Christy Sutton for organizing supplies to be brought back to Texas for those affected by Hurricane Harvey. Thank you to Brian & Christine Allen for renting a Uhaul box trailer and to Ryan Hey & Matt Brousseau for volunteering to take the items back. They collected a few truck fulls and a trailer full of supplies from everyone in attendance. This long range community never ceases to amaze me.

One of the fun stages on Day One was the “2 position TYL”. Upon the command “engage” the shooter went prone and the engaged the TYL rack with up to 5 rounds. The plates were from largest to smallest, hit to move on. Once those 5 rounds were exhausted, the shooter transitioned to a position on the tires and repeated the process for a second 5 rounds. Time: 90 seconds. Round count: 10. Distance: 800 yrds. I didn’t do so well on this one as the winds completely stopped when I transitioned to the tire. The wind Gods must laugh when I get up on a stage and say “Hey look, its blondie” The winds will blow hard and then stop suddenly…ugh. We finished Day One around 3:00 pm and everyone was exhausted. That Florida sun beating down on you all day with all the humidity is physically exhausting. After getting back to the hotel and showering, it was time to meet everyone at Hooters to eat and watch the Alabama vs. Florida State game. All I’m going to say is…..Roll Tide Y’all!!

Day Two was upon us, and it was time to buckle down as the day before didn’t fare too well for me. My squad started the day with “Go Big or Go Small” stage. Before the stage started, you had to choose to shoot the big target for 1 point or the small target for 2 points. You could not change your mind after your first shot. On command “engage” the shooter assumes position 1 on the barricade and engage chosen target with 3 rounds hit or miss. Then shooter transitions to the next position and repeat with 3 rounds and then transition to position 3 and repeat. Time: 90 seconds. Round count: 9. Target: 12″ circle or 8″ circle. Distance: 410 yrds. Max score: 18 .. Most of us decided on this stage to go for broke and go for the small circle. It fared well for some and not so much for others as the wind kinda got involved (again).

One of my favorite stages (which always involves a Prairie Dog target) was “Curtis Custom Hunting Trip”. Shooter will engage animal targets from near to far. Each target can only be hit once, but the shooter may attempt as many times as they like until a hit is achieved or until they reach the max round count. Targets can be skipped but once you pass a target you may not go back. Time: 90 sec. Round count: 10. Targets/distance: Prairie dog1 (on a pole) 283yrds; Prairie dog2 (on a pole) 330 yrds; Prairie dog3 (on a pole) 362 yrds; Pig1 435 yrds; Pig2 575 yrds; Coyote1 610 yrds; Coyote2 660 yrds; Kangaroo, 728 yrds. Max Score 8 … It only took me 8 rounds to clean this stage. My custom built GA Precision 6mmCreedmoor with Templar V2 action just screamed at this match! I have a 25″ Bartlein barrel, APA Little Bastard brake, Timney Trigger in a Manners Composite Stock. Along with my Bushnell Elite XRS 4.5-30 (I didnt have time to put my new XRS II on before) and my reloaded ammunition which consists of Federal Premium 210M primers, Alliant Reloder 16 and Berger Bullets 105gr Hybrids, just getting the wind calls right was what I needed. I clean my rifle with Hoppe’s #9 and always keep some Hoppe’s Gun Medic handy during matches. All my reloads are done on RCBS equipment. I couldn’t be more pleased with their products! I use my Armageddon Gear precision rifle sling on alot of different barricades along with the shooting bags and rear bags. During cool months of shooting, I will wear XGO base layers under my competition jersey. XGO also has this sun hoodie which is amazing. Lightweight and keeps those harmful sun rays off you!

I just wanted to quickly note something. If an RO tells you that you are on the wrong target, believe them! LOL, it must have been the heat to make me feel rogue on a certain stage. Next time Rudy, I will listen to you.

I want to thank all the guys at CORE Shooting Solutions: Josh Mann, Mike Mangum, John Watts and Bryan Morgan for opening their doors to another great PRS match. HUGE thanks goes out to George Gardner for all his hard work setting the match up. Thank you to all the RO’s who were there to make this match a success. (Also big thanks to Eric Lundberg for my big bag of gummy bears from around the world!!) To all the guys on squad 9, you are the best!! Congrats to Matt Brousseau for taking away 1st place (and who was blast to be with on my squad) and to Shannon Kay 2nd place and Tyler Payne 3rd place. Congratulations to all the Top spots including Top Female Christine Allen (Love ya girl)!.To all my great sponsors: GA Precision, Bushnell, Armageddon Gear, Hoppe’s 9, Federal Premium, RCBS, Berger Bullets, Manners Composite Stocks and XGO. All my equipment ran effortlessly and I couldn’t be more proud to wear all these brands on my shirt. Thanks to my Husband and my family for always being my rock. I love you guys!

If you are looking at getting into these long range matches, take a look at Precision Rifle Series. These matches are all over the USA with them popping up in Canada and Africa. Big shout to Brian Dennis for everything he is doing for the PRS. It just keeps getting better!